I am trying to put together some notes for a possible book about fun trivia and stories surrounding alcohol. I've read many of the descriptions of the Maednads but I can't quite distinguish between myth and history in some of the accounts. I appreciate any help that may be offered.
PS if you have any historical alcoholic tidbits you have in your back pocket and would like to share, that would be much appreciated. Thanks
One of my favorite alcoholic tidbits is mentioned in this older AskHistorians discussion - quoting Michael Pollan's Botany of Desire. The fabled (but real) American figure Johnny Appleseed wasn't planting apples for people to eat, because apples don't breed true from seed. Seed-grown apples would be sour. He was planting apples for pioneers to make hard cider.
Hi there - we're happy to approve your question related to your creative project, and we are happy for people to answer. However, we should warn you that many flairs have become reluctant to answer questions for aspiring novelists and the like, based on past experience: some people working on creative projects have a tendency to try to pump historians for trivia while ignoring the bigger points they were making, while others have a tendency to argue with historians when the historical reality does not line up with what's needed for a particular scene or characterization. Please respect the answers of people who have generously given you their time, even if it's not always what you want to hear.
Additionally, as amazing as our flair panel is, we should also point out that /r/AskHistorians is not a professional historical consultation service. If you're asking a question here because you need vital research for a future commercial product such as a historical novel, you may be better off engaging a historical consultant at a fair hourly rate to answer these questions for you. We don't know what the going rate for consultancy work would be in your locality, but it may be worth looking into that if you have in-depth or highly plot-reliant questions for this project. Some /r/AskHistorians flairs could be receptive to working as a consultant in this way. However, if you wish for a flair here to do this work for you, you will need to organize this with them yourselves.